Refractive laser eye surgery

[Megalyth]

I've always had pretty horrible vision for as long as I can remember. I've worn glasses since the age of about 10 or 11 and I never got contacts because I'm squeamish about sticking things into my eyes.

For a while now I've been considering and half-heartedly researching laser surgery, and today when I woke up I went to clean my glasses and they broke, so it was sort of the final straw.

I've taken into consideration the fact that I can't seem to work up the nerve to insert contacts, let alone have my eyelids held open and lasers aimed into my eyes, etc. As freaky as it would be, I'd only have to do it once, maybe twice if I require a follow-up procedure, and the procedure only lasts minutes. Based on the research I've done, the benefits seem to far outweigh the risks.

So my question is this: has anyone here had this procedure done, or know someone who has, and how has it worked out for them in the long term?

[Planky]

I want to get this done, but it would cost me over $5000 - money I simply do not have.

I'm glad they now have lasers that can do the job without having to use a blade to cut the flap. Having a blade cutting my eye open while I'm conscience freaks me out.

I know of a few people who have had it done. They can't get over how much of an improvement it makes. They liken it to the first time you have to get glasses - you don't realize how bad your vision is until you suddenly can see everything in crisp detail.

[Technician]

I've had it. I can honestly say it was one of the most painful and uncomfortable experiences of my life. I didn't have it done to improve my vision but to eliminate some debris and heal the walls of my eyes.

I wear glasses as well. I just believe that wearing glasses is simply easier to deal with. I'm not so vain to ever think the absence of my glasses will add to opposites attraction. However I have a big of a glasses fetish...

[Megalyth]

Well I don't think I look bad with glasses, but they have become increasingly more of a pain in the ass over the years. Not to say that I don't look better without them, but whatever.

[DuckReconMajor]

Technician said:

I'm not so vain to ever think the absence of my glasses will add to opposites attraction.

Me neither, but there are other reasons. For example, fighter pilots cannot wear glasses or contacts (though I believe it wasn't until recently that the military started accepting laser-corrected recruits). Or it could be as simple as being able to see in waterparks and other places where you have to take off your glasses.

[david_a]

My father does medical research in human vision and says that nobody involved in his field goes near laser surgery (most of his colleagues that I've met wear glasses). Couple of main reasons:

1) If they screw up there is absolutely nothing that can be done to fix it.

2) It works by slicing off a portion of the eye to reform the shape (people are near/far sighted because the eye is too oblong in a particular direction). This of course makes the walls of the eye thinner, which increases risk for a variety of eye disorders. For instance, people naturally get worse vision as they age due to tissues breaking down; this just exacerbates it.

[Megalyth]

Only the first layer of the cornea is sliced partially to allow access to the layer beneath, and then it's reattached. Nothing is actually removed from the eye. Yes, it may weaken the walls of the cornea at first until it heals, and I have heard that later in life your vision can get worse than it would have naturally, but hell, my vision is already so bad that without my glasses, sitting about 3 feet from my computer monitor, I cannot even tell that there are words in this input box, let alone read them.

I must have inherited my vision from my mother, whose vision is equally as bad as mine if not worse, plus she has astigmatism. My father can read the nutrition facts label on a can of soup from across the room.

Damn you genetics!

[Mechadon]

I don't think I could ever go through with laser eye surgery. I'm stuck with glasses since my eyes are too sensitive for contacts (I can barely get by with putting drops in my eyes). I've seen how they do it and....bleh, I just don't think I could stomach having the top portion of my eye sliced off. No thanks! I don't mind glasses.

[Aldaraia]

The same with Mechadon for me, I am very careful and sensitive about my eyes, it is quite a task to get eye drops in my eyes and often miss.

But when I think about getting laser surgery, its not the price that's frightening, its that they friggin' cut your cornea open to laser up your eyes, I don't care if they say its safe. Who knows, while opening up your globe, you might end up getting the surgeon who cheated his way through school, or any surgeon in this case who makes a mistake and ends up blinding your eye, perhaps your good eye, if the other one is bad, (amblyopia in my case). Hell that's probably why I won't have any surgery on my eye, I swear I have scotomaphobia. :)

[Butts]

I didn't realize how bad my vision was until a few years ago, when I put on one of my friends glasses as a joke. Well, I then realized that I could see very clearly and could read things from across the room that I otherwise would have not been able to see at all. I ended up getting contacts last year, even though I hated things as simple as eye drops with a passion. I still hate putting things in my eye but I did it anyways. Poor vision sucks. Laser eye surgery looks like it would suck worse though. I think I have a stigma in my left eye, or whatever it is.

[DooMAD]

My step-mother had it a few years back and needed to use eye drops for almost a year due to dryness. And her eyesight still isn't that great. Can't say I'd recommend the procedure to anyone.

[DeumReaper]

Heh, I'm so used to contacts that I can poke my eyes and I won't feel much...unless I've eaten something with tabasco recently, then it hurts like HELL
I was considering laser eye surgery in a year or two (when I've finished college), but based on the opinions so far, the benefits aren't really worth it.

[Super Jamie]

If it helps, both my grandmother and my girlfriend's grandmother have had laser surgery on both their eyes to remove cataracts. Nothing bad to say, and everything good.

[Khorus]

Super Jamie said:

If it helps, both my grandmother and my girlfriend's grandmother have had laser surgery on both their eyes to remove cataracts. Nothing bad to say, and everything good.

Yeah, my great grandmother had it done to one of her eyes for the same reason. She saw us coming from the parking lot when we next visited her rather than being barely able to to recognize us face to face.

[magicsofa]

I have marks on my face from wearing the same old decaying glasses for so long...


I could do contacts but I'm just too lazy. I think it's more convenient to be able to put on and take off my glasses in a snap, despite the annoyance of them being knocked off my face.

[Enjay]

My mate got it done a few years ago. Best thing he's ever done he said. His eyesight was awful, and now it's not, He described the procedure as mild discomfort accompanied by a slight smell a bit like cooking mushrooms (!) and about 1 week of a slightly "gritty" feeling in his eyes. After that, it was all good and his life has improved dramatically as a result, including getting a job where there is an eyesight restriction.

Oh, and before he had it done, his optician told him that he stood more chance of damaging his eyesight by wearing contacts than he did by getting the operation.

[Csonicgo]

I have a friend that is convinced it is a conspiracy.






In fact, he even thinks myopia is a government/illuminati/masonite conspiracy due to the fact that the US GOvernment shuts down quack eye "clinics" that sell super-ridiculous lenses and/or pinhole lenses( which, while making things sharper, impares a person's ability to see moving objects well; We don't need that on the road).


and sadly, he and quacks like him are starting to convince some people.

[Super Jamie]

Conspiracy theorists are hilarious.

Roswell Roswell, oh wait, it's all declassified now and it was actually military experiments testing high-altitude parachute jumping with dummies.

I love the contrail people, who think the government is trying to control the public with cloud wash from jet engines. Have they ever heard of condensation?

[Jello]

I've considered it, but I haven't had it done. I was recommended glasses when I was about 12, didn't start wearing them until I was 16 and realized I could barely see the road and couldn't read the blackboard at school. I can't really wear contacts, the optometrist said my eyelids are too close to my eyes, and it would cause irritation. Tried them for a few months, but they were right, my eyes would be beet red at the end of the day and the world would look like it was swimming back and forth. I would say go with glasses, they make you look smart, and you don't risk permanently fucking up your vision even more so. I'm fine with putting contacts in as far as touching my eyes goes, or poking my eye with my finger for a joke, but paying someone $2000 to cut them with a scalpel or laser with the risk that it will permanently make my vision even worse isn't something that I'm going to do.

[superdavey79]

I was looking into this about 4 years ago. I've worn glasses about 22 years. The doctor said my pupils were really big, almost 8 millimeters and he said only one of his lasers could perform the operation, so I'm gonna wait a little longer than check it out again.

[Bank]

superdavey79 said:
well, thats true but if you live in this country, you know that "democracy" has been handed down for generations when in point of fact, its a total reversal of what the founding fathers planned, so know our history.

Fix'd

Oh and I'd love laser eye surgery but I have an immense phobia of having my eyes touched.

[Sharessa]

My dad had his eyes laser'd for some reason. He says it helped his vision for the most part, but he still has to wear reading glasses.

[Jello]

My dad is actually getting laser eye surgery today. I'll see how it works out for him and let everyone know. If it doesn't completely FUBAR his vision I may look into it, but I'd like to know if it works before someone cuts my cornea with a laser.

[GreyGhost]

I'd get my eyes done if the procedure wasn't so damned expensive.

Bank said:

Oh and I'd love laser eye surgery but I have an immense phobia of having my eyes touched.

How do you think you'd cope with coronary angioplasty? I had the good fortune to be allowed to observe proceedings on an x-ray monitor when one of my arteries needed attention.

[spank]

I can barely stand wearing soft contacts, and given that I suffer from mild to severe astigmatism in both eyes, I'd have use rigid ones, which are no-go for me. So yeah, I'll definitely consider doing it once I can afford it easily and once I have enough time to spend recovering.

[Fulgrim]

My mom had it done about year ago. It's since became one of those things you dont want to get her started talking about. Its not that it turned out bad. It turned out great for her and she wont shut up about it. She went from not driving at night to doing it when ever she can. Hell, the first week after having her eyes fixed she must have taken a drive at night every night because she could. She was also wearing "coke bottle" glasses befor she had it done.

I'd say go for it. Just be warned that you will be awake during the op. That has be a weird feeling. Some one messing with your eyes and the whole time your watching them do it.

[Ralphis]

Saving up for it right now. It's one of my #1 priorities. I had a girlfriend and both of her parents got it done and said it was great, same with my best friend's parents.

I hate glasses and contacts, time to get a good look at what's going on.

I can't wait to be able to wear cheap plastic sunglasses again.

[Aliotroph?]

I'm curious to see what everybody thinks 20 years down the road when their vision gets worse anyway. Can't be worth it for all the people I know whose prescriptions change a lot every few years. I should ask my neighbour, who had it down years ago.

I love all the guys who think it'll work on retinal damage too. My retinas are so shot it doesn't matter how well glasses correct my inherited near sightedness. I'll see all the far-away things with super-crisp edges and still not be able to see what they are! The effect is a bit like taking a photo, reducing it to a tiny thumbnail and trying to make out all the stuff in it -- only that's anything distant in my whole field of vision. Without glasses (which I haven't bothered to wear in 10 years) the effect is like playing a city-themed DOOM map at 320x200 with nice GL filtering. Can't see shit at a distance but close it looks fine. :D

So I could get laser surgery to see far-away things clearly without being able to actually see them.

[mardraum]

Megalyth said:

and I never got contacts because I'm squeamish about sticking things into my eyes.

Not to condescend, but did you give them a good enough shot? I know the feeling, I was abysmal with my contacts at first. I think I was such a pussy that it took me half an hour just to take them out the first time, my eyes would just clamp shut, but after a week or so it was much easier. After a few weeks I could do it without even thinking about it.

Might want to give them another try. I've not had laser surgery, so I won't talk out of my ass about that, but just the difference between glasses and contacts is huge. Peripheral vision, less distortion, nothing to wipe off the lenses when I get caught in the rain/do pornos, no worrying about scratching them up when I'm wasted...

[Megalyth]

Might want to give them another try.

You're probably right. It was over 10 years ago that I tried contacts. I should stop being such a sissy and just do it. It wouldn't be the worst thing I've ever done, I'm sure.